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Website maintenance: everything you need to know to keep your site running smoothly

Google ranking, Optimize Website, Security Monitoring, Website maintenance, Website Security / By my web / April 6, 2022 / Analytics, Boosts Protection, bugs, content management, eCommerce services, email accounts, errors, Functionality, Google rankings, initial investment, platform, plugins, seo, Site Speed, social media, Software Update, SSL, SSL license, traffic growth, User Satisfaction, valuable marketing tools, Vulnerabilities, web design, web hosting, web maintenance plan, Website Backups, Website Content, website design, website maintenance services, WordPress technical support

There is mostly a big sigh of relief once the website is completed and uploaded, but wait, do you think it is done forever? NO, just like you need to periodically maintain your car, body (including your skin), house, and website. Many people think that maintaining a website is mainly about fixing the bugs that appear after launching it, but actually, it encompasses a lot more than that. Updating the website’s visuals, integrating with new systems, and uploading fresh content are all part of maintaining the website. A website is the first impression of your business, and this needs to be in line with the constantly evolving environment around you to not fall behind in the competition.

We’ll discuss website maintenance, why web design firms and agencies need to offer it, what’s included in the list of website maintenance services, and how much it costs to maintain a website.

Let’s get started!

What is website maintenance?

Keep updating your website to remain secure, reliable, and fresh. Website maintenance is simply regularly monitoring your website for faults and ensuring that everything is fully updated and responsive. It helps improve your SEO and Google rankings which encourages traffic growth.

You need to keep your website updated. Whether you’re a big company, an individual, or even a small business, you need to update your website. It allows you to interact and communicate online with targeted visitors on your site while avoiding serious issues like spamming.

Examine whether your website’s pages load rapidly and without any problems.
Create a backup of your website’s data to verify that it is safe.
Make sure your site’s software and plugins are up-to-date.
Examine all the forms to make sure they’re working correctly.
Delete spam comments from your website’s posts or pages.
Make sure there aren’t any broken links on the pages.
Investigate your website for 404 errors and resolve them.
Keep your blog updated to keep your audience interested and returning.
Maintain control over their web hosts and ensure that everything is running efficiently.

And this is only the weekly evaluation. Every month, maintenance involves:

Reviewing your website’s speed.
Conducting security checks and assessments.
Updating blogs that need to be revised.
Revising any content that needs to be updated.

You should also consider upgrading the appearance and functionality of your website.

Automating as many processes as possible is essential for maintaining a website. It involves reviewing your website’s backups and testing them on various browsers to ensure they run smoothly.

What is included in the Website Maintenance Services List?

We’ve already explained why website maintenance matters. Let’s look at the essential services part of the Website Maintenance Services List.

Here is the list you need to keep an eye on regarding website maintenance.

1. Scan for Vulnerabilities

Website security should be the primary reason why websites need to be maintained. Regularly scanning your website ensures that it isn’t hacked or taken over. Check for the spam messages that may have passed through your filters.

2. Repairs and Fixes

Check both internal and external links. A link checker can be run to look for broken links that frustrate the users and reduce the search engine rankings.

3. Browser Compatibility Testing

Ensure that all aspects of your site work well in the most commonly used browsers. You need to ensure your website works well for everyone.

4. Software Update

The critical software your site relies on should be updated. For example, CMSs, themes, and plugin systems. Also, upgrade non-critical software if they are worth applying.

5. Website Backups

Database backups would be automatically performed weekly and restored at least once a month.

6. Site Speed

This is a significant point to check. Use Yahoo’s YSlow or Google Pagespeed Insights to identify the issues slowing your site’s speed.

7. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

With SEO, you identify the issues that affect your site’s ranking so that you can fix them.

8. Analytics

Check the crucial metrics of your website and the trends in those metrics using the Google Analytics dashboard.

9. Functionality

Ensure that you check all the essential functions, including filling out forms, contacting people, and checking out.

10. Website Content

Updating content on websites makes them fresh and up to date for users and search engines alike. So, regularly review your content, fix any mistakes, and upload the updated information with targeted words in an improved style.

Well, these are the basics of website maintenance services. Businesses may go deeper into their websites based on their websites, but they shouldn’t ignore them. It’s essential to nurture and maintain your website if you want to succeed online. Maintenance ensures the web page’s performance is at its peak. It removes errors, secures the web page against attacks, and delivers the best user experience to the customers.

Why is website maintenance necessary?

Potential customers are most often searching for relevant information, quality content, and expert advice at the same time. This is when website maintenance becomes crucial. Regular content revisions will keep your website engaging and maintain a high search engine ranking.

There are numerous other reasons to keep your website updated regularly, including:

Enhances User Satisfaction

View your website from the perspective of a visitor. If the loading speed is slow and there is broken content everywhere, you will get annoyed. However, you will be pleased if the website is well-maintained, with good web design and necessary details. Your top priority is to provide an excellent user experience. Visitors will be impressed with a well-designed website, encouraging their use of your products and services. If you suggest your brand to family members and friends, they become your brand promoters.

Improves Your SEO

Google prefers websites that are well optimized and provide the best value for their visitors. If your website’s redirection pages aren’t working, your company’S search engine ranking will suffer. If Google finds any issues on your website, you may be deindexed. Your website’s primary purpose is to attract visitors, so updating your site with relevant content, news, keywords, etc., can help keep you current.

Boosts Protection

Security is the most important thing when it comes to websites. Regularly updating your website with new features and security patches is essential for keeping your site safe and secure. Hackers may be interested in websites that haven’t been updated for a long time. If you fail to address security issues for a prolonged period, you may face downtime or even total business failure.

What does website maintenance cost?

Keeping your site consistent and working requires regular maintenance. There are many factors to consider when choosing a hosting web service, including website design, marketing tactics, frequent software updates, and domain and storage costs.

Moreover, the platform and functionalities you select when creating a website impact its ongoing costs. The costs of using a website builder versus a content management system will be considerably different.

All domain name renewal fees, web hosting plan rates, and SSL license charges are included in website maintenance costs since they’re required to keep your website online. Next, there are the costs of email accounts, specialized technical support, and eCommerce services, which vary depending on the kind of website you’re building.

Other costs such as web hosting, plugins, and search optimization (SEO) help improve the site’s operation and increase traffic. The amount of money spent on each category depends on the needs of your website, so you need to determine how much money you want to spend on each category. We’ll look at nine essential website maintenance costs to help you plan your website budget.

Before choosing a web maintenance plan:

Make a list of your needs.
Compare different service providers’ offers.
Look at the estimated website maintenance costs for different types of websites.

The following are the critical website maintenance costs:

$10-$20 per year for a domain name.
SSL certificates are available for $0-$50 per month.
Web hosting services range from $2.75 to $15.00 per month.
Email hosting costs between $1 and $5 per month.
$0-$1,000 per month for technical support.
$0-$800/month for search engine optimization.
Updates to the content – $0 – $3,000 in total.
$0-$200/month for general updates.

You’re all prepared to keep up the excellent job with all these steps in mind!

Now that you know the average website maintenance cost, you can create an appropriate budget for website maintenance. The output is a list of sentences with paraphrasing. You should keep in mind that your costs may vary depending on the type of site that you’re running: an eCommerce site accepting payments on-site will require more SSL security, for example, than a personal blog. You may be able to get most of the services you need for free if you use a website builder. However, some basic fees will be included with your plan.

Website maintenance checklist:

Following an effective maintenance plan guarantees that your site continues serving as one of your most valuable marketing tools. We’ve created a checklist of actions to keep your website up to date and running smoothly for your visitors.

Here’s a comprehensive list of website upkeep tasks to keep in mind:

1. Website Maintenance Checklist every week

Verify for 404 errors and, if any exist, correct them.
To enhance SEO traffic, publish one or more blogs.
Check to see that all of the forms are functioning correctly.
Create a blog article to promote in your community.
Look for any broken links.
Plugins and software that are vital to the system should be updated.

2. Website Maintenance Checklist every month

Perform a security audit.
Check loading speed and resolve any errors as soon as possible.
Analyze the most important statistics.
Ensure that your website is visible in local searches.
Make changes to the material to make it more relevant.
Analyze the most and most negligible prevalent content on the website.

3. Website Maintenance Checklist quarterly

Look for any areas where you can improve the content.
Graphics and images should be updated.
Meta descriptions and titles should be updated.
Keep track of your website’s backups.
Check if popups, forms, and other features are functioning correctly.
Examine your website on the most widely used browsers and devices.
Examine the uptime logs – if it’s less than 99.9%, take action.
Check to see if your site is mobile-friendly.

4. Website Maintenance Checklist every year

Consider updating your website’s design.
Revise the copyright information in the footer as well as any references.
Domain names should be renewed.
Examine the content for accuracy.
Your best-performing blogs should be updated.

Wrap Up

The web is constantly changing, and so are the standards used by social media platforms, web browsers, and other websites. You might have heard, for example, that SSL is becoming a requirement for websites and that not having it could harm how people perceive and find your website. SSL is a great security measure for your website. Still, it’s not easy to install, and the work can usually be compensated under a regular monthly maintenance contract if appropriately managed.

A great way to supplement your monthly revenue is to offer a website maintenance service. It will not only improve your sales but will also keep your current customers engaged. Eventually, this will aid in your growth. It may require some initial investment, but you’ll be successful before you know it as long as you’ve got the larger picture in mind.

We hope that this article has helped you see how important it is to include website maintenance services as part of your website design process and to keep your website healthy in the long run.

Contact mywebmaintenance.com if you need a new website or want to upgrade your present one. Aside from website design and construction, we can also assist you with custom web development services, and even more.

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How to Generate Leads for Your Business – Lead Generation Strategies, Tips, & Tricks

Lead Generation, SEO, Webite Traffice / By my web / October 18, 2021 / B2B marketing, business-to-business, Google Adwords Keyword Planner, Guest Blogging, lead generation marketing, lead generation strategy, PPC ad, ROI, seo

According to the SBA (Small Business Administration), about one-third of employees fail within the first two years. While this article is not intended to break down the general reasons for business failure, it highlights one of the most critical factors: consistent lead generation.

For your business to overgrow and become permanently profitable, you must learn to acquire business leads.

What Is lead generation in Marketing?

In marketing, lead generation is the process of gaining actionable customer interest in your company’s services. It usually involves a customer initiating a conversation with you or providing you with their contact information to engage with your firm’s products or services.

For example, a law firm might receive business leads to generate leads.

Forms submitted by potential clients to enquire about their services.
A phone call from a potential client to set up a consultation appointment.
Direct messages on social media are asking for prices.
An email from a potential client is asking to make a consultation appointment.

Therefore, part of finding new business leads is developing a marketing concept that makes it easy for customers to contact your company.

Your lead generation strategy should always lead to exchanging contact or payment information from potential customers or a face-to-face meeting.

Lead Generation Examples

Whether you plan to buy leads or create a lead generation marketing plan, a lead generation strategy will help you turn strangers into paying customers.

Before you develop your strategy, take a look at the following ways to generate leads for your business.

➤ Direct Engagement

If your firm sells a high-value product or service billed monthly, contacting prospects directly is a great way to generate new business. If your revenue model is based on low-value, high-volume sales, you should eliminate this option.

You can reach out directly via social media, email, phone, or even in person after you have determined that the prospect may be a good fit for your business.

➤ Generate Leads on LinkedIn

Did you know that an audience on LinkedIn has two times the buying power of your average online audience? B2B marketing on LinkedIn is very effective and can lead to very profitable results.

Connecting with relevant industry leaders is a great way to create business opportunities. Potential clients who ask you for referrals for the services you offer may turn out to be your following paying clients.

Utilizing social media for advertising is also a great way to leverage LinkedIn if you have the budget. You can even pay for lead generation ads that include forms directly in your ads, and these advertisements make it easy for relevant users to sign up to buy your product or service.

One more method to get business leads on LinkedIn is to get in touch with members of your target audience, engage with their articles and target them directly with your products or services. Please remember that this method only works if their profile and posts indicate that your services can meet an unmet need. If this is not the case, your offer could be dismissed as spam and damage your credibility.

➤ Advertise and Retarget

Social media isn’t the only place to advertise! Use targeted pay-per-view advertising on Google or Bing to target search engine users. This way, you can place ads for search queries that you already know are highly relevant to your business.

Imagine that you are a BMW dealership looking to improve your dealership marketing in Houston. You can create ads that target search terms such as “best BMW dealership in Houston” or “new BMW in Houston” or even use geo-filters to target customers searching in the Houston area.

Few website visitors convert on their very first visit to your website. When a user clicks on your PPC ad, you can use display retargeting to show a visual ad for your product on other popular sites around the internet.

Digital advertising may take a while to perfect, but it can be one of the most effective ways to generate leads for your firm.

➤ Ask for Referrals from Current Customers

Customer referrals are one of the earliest lead generation marketing strategies. If your product or service makes current customers happy, ask them to share their experience with friends who might benefit.

The quality of your business’s products may be good enough that customers can do so for free, or you can create an incentive system. For example, give your clients a fixed percentage of the following month’s fee for each referred client.

Customer referrals are a great way to obtain more leads for your business because it is profitable, and your current customers do most of the work.

➤ Write guest blogs

Guest blogging is an excellent method to generate referrals through content marketing while improving your search engine optimization.

Guest blogging offers all the following marketing benefits.

Made new industry connections
Improve your SEO by gaining meaningful, industry-relevant backlinks
Generates referral traffic from relevant target groups

You can generate leads for your firm by writing guest blogs for websites related to your industry but do not directly compete with you. For example, if you are a marketing company, you could write guest blogs for sign companies in your area. You know that the sign company’s target audience is interested in marketing themselves and that your services are complimentary.

Writing guest blogs for local influencers is in line with best practices for local SEO. For example, writing guest blogs and getting backlinks from popular podcasts in your area will make your website easier to find in that area.

For best results, make sure the website you guest blog on is relevant to your industry and your location.

➤ Rank in search engines to generate leads

When your target audience looks for your products or services online, you should make sure they can easily find you. Figure out how you can generate more leads for your business by using SEO and SEM.

Start with keyword research to find out what terms your target audience is searching for before buying your product or service. You can make use of tools such as SEMrush or Google Adwords Keyword Planner to find search data.

Once you have found the right keywords, optimize the content of your pages. If you are selling highly competitive goods or services, it cannot be easy to rank organically. If you are willing to invest, using an SEO company can be a great way to generate a steady stream of leads.

Find out how to choose an SEO company before making an investment decision. Not every agency will provide the same results, so it is essential to choose a suitable company for your business.

➤ Answer Forum Questions

Answering questions in the forum is a great way to demonstrate your expertise and set the stage for reciprocity. If you are strategic, you can find leads within minutes this way.

“The key to applying the principle of reciprocity is to be the first to give and to make sure that what you give is personal and unexpected. This quote from Influence at Work describes how being the first to give can receive something of equal or more excellent value.

Put this principle of persuasion into action by answering questions in forums on sites like Reddit or Quora. Discover a category that is relevant to your business and start answering users’ questions. Make sure you include a prompt at the end of your answer to use your product or service to solve the user’s problem.

For example, imagine you are a law firm offering family law services. You could subscribe to a legal sub-forum where users ask questions specifically about the services your firm offers. Take a few minutes each day to look for questions that you can provide insight into.

If a user asks a question about child maintenance, leave a helpful answer that eventually leads them to your website and suggests they contact you for advice. If you offer free advice, users who ask questions may be more willing to pay for your legal services in the future.

Answering forum questions is an excellent example of generating new business leads and benefiting search engine optimization. In particular, in our Reddit example, if you receive enough positive comments on your child support answer, your link can positively impact your law firm’s SEO. This synergy can make your lead generation efforts pay off.

➤ Offer a Free Tool or lead generation Magnet

Offering accessible tools is a great way to generate business-to-business customer leads. What kind of problem does your product or service solve? Can you offer a free tool that helps users without them ultimately having to buy from your business?

In this example, imagine you are a plastic surgeon in Houston. After surveying your Twitter audience and doing keyword research, you find that users are interested in the cost of surgery and recovery time.

So you decide to write an e-book describing the price ranges, recovery times, and before and after photos of the different procedures you offer. You write a teaser blog post and then ask people to trade their name, phone number, and email address for the information you provide.

Your blog post can collect contact information with the right topic, targeting, and call to action. A high level of consistency in blog topics, CTAs, and offers leads to higher conversion rates. Here’s the average conversion rate you can expect from visits to leads according to Databox’s blog lead conversion data.

This teaser blog post is so valuable that interested readers will link to your website and sign up for the free eBook. Your guide will help you attract leads for your business while positively impacting SEO for Houston Plastic Surgery.

What opportunities are available in your industry? Famous examples include creating calculators, compiling research reports, offering free guides, and even offering free consultations to generate leads for your business.

➤ Influencer Interviews

Interviews with leaders in your industry can open many doors for you and your business. Not only is it a great way to network and learn from experts in your industry, but you can also use these interviews to create compelling content.

Record your interview as a video, turn it into a Q&A blog post or make it a podcast. By embedding your interviews in these different formats, you can better use the content and drive interested users to your site or social media. You could even consider putting a threshold in the interview and asking for contact information to increase the generation of business leads.

Often, influencers will share the interview results through their marketing channels, multiplying your reach and ROI.

➤ Start Networking

Networking rarely leads to direct income, but it is excellent for taking advantage of career opportunities. Try to choose a Networking event that is both local and industry-specific. This will help you keep your travel costs down and ensure you benefit from easy access to business opportunities.

What can you expect to get from Networking? If you go on a trip with an ROI, you will almost always be disappointed. Instead, look for indirect benefits.

Maybe you’ll meet a complementary business with whom you can exchange leads and expand your reach. Maybe you’ll meet an influencer who agrees to interview you so you can create great content while increasing your marketing reach. Networking can even lead to guest blogging opportunities for your business.

Your investment in Networking will almost always pay off several times over, making it one of the best methods to get leads for your business.

➤ Create an Email Offer

Generating leads is not always the result of reaching new audiences. There may be untapped business potential in your email list.

Once you have built your email subscriber list, create a special offer. A special discount or limited-time offer can turn a passive viewer into a paying customer.

You can also offer special email deals to other people’s email lists. If you actively network or partner with other businesses in your industry, you can create an agreement that allows you to promote yourself to their audience.

Remember our previous example of a guest blogging partnership between a marketing agency and a sign company. The marketing agency could promote the sign maker’s following email and offer 5% of all sales generated by the initiative. It’s a win-win-win situation for the marketing agency, the sign company, and the happy new customer.

➤ Create Helpful blog comments

As a warning, I haven’t saved the best business lead generation strategies for last.

As a business owner or your company’s marketing executive, be aware of subscribing to industry publications and even competitors’ blogs. This can help you keep your finger on the pulse of your competitors and open up opportunities to help.

If you notice readers leaving several unanswered blog comments on a post, provide your insight in the response. It’s also not a bad idea to consist of a call to action on your website, calling for you to provide relevant information that will further address the reader’s question.

Proceed with caution when trying to generate business leads through blog comments. Comments on blogs can be challenging to do as they are susceptible to spam. In addition, your competitors may not take kindly to you hunting down their audience.

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What is Cyber Threat Intelligence? [Beginner’s Guide]

Security, Security Monitoring, Website Security / By my web / September 16, 2021 / Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), analysis phase, Cybersecurity, dissemination phase, Indicators Of Compromises (IOCs, Intelligence Cycle, Tactical Intelligence, Threat Intelligence

What is Threat Intelligence?

Threat Intelligence is data collected, processed, and analyzed to understand threat actors’ motives, goals, and attack behavior. Threat Intelligence allows us to make faster, more informed, and data-driven security decisions and shift our behavior from reactive to proactive in the fight versus threat actors.

Why is Threat Intelligence Important?

Worldwide Cybersecurity, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), and defenders are continuously trying to outmaneuver each other. Data about a threat actor’s next move is critical to adapt your defenses and prevent future attacks proactively.

Organizations increasingly identify the value of Threat Intelligence, and 72 percent plan to increase their spending on Threat Intelligence in the coming quarters.

However, there is a difference between identifying the value and getting it. Today, most organizations focus only on the most basic use cases, such as integrating threat data feeds with existing networks, IPS, firewalls, and SIEMs, without taking full advantage of the insights intelligence can provide.

Organizations that limit themselves to this basic level of Threat Intelligence are missing out on real benefits that could significantly improve their security posture.

Threat Intelligence is essential for the following reasons:

Brings light into the darkness and enables security teams to make better decisions
empowers Cybersecurity actors by revealing the adversary’s motives and their Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTP)
helps security professionals much better understand the threat actor’s decision-making process
empowers business stakeholders, such as boards of directors, CISOs, CIOs, and CTOs, to invest wisely, reduce risk, become a lot more efficient, and make faster decisions

Who Benefits from Threat Intelligence?

Threat Intelligence helps organizations of all types and sizes process threat data to understand their attackers better, respond more quickly to incidents and proactively anticipate a threat actor’s next move. SMEs can use this data to achieve a level of protection that would otherwise be unattainable.

On the other hand, organizations with large security teams can reduce the cost and skills required and deploy their analysts more effectively by leveraging external Threat Intelligence.

From start to finish, Threat Intelligence offers unique benefits to every member of a security team, including:

Sec/IT Analyst – Optimising prevention and detection capabilities and strengthening defenses.
Soc – prioritizing incidents based on risk and impact to the business.
CSIRT – Accelerate the investigation, management, and prioritization of incidents.
Intel analyst – uncover and track threat actors attacking the enterprise
Executive management – understanding the risks facing the business and the options available to address them

Threat Intelligence Lifecycle

The Intelligence Lifecycle is a process for transforming raw data into finished information for decision-making and action. In your research, you will find many slightly different versions of the Intelligence Cycle.

Still, the goal is the same: to lead a Cybersecurity team through developing and executing an effective Threat Intelligence program.

Threat Intelligence is challenging because threats constantly evolve, and organizations need to adapt quickly and act decisively.

The Intelligence Cycle provides a framework that enables teams to optimize their resources and respond effectively to the modern threat landscape. This cycle consists of six steps that culminate in a feedback loop to drive continuous improvement:

Below we will explain the six steps in more detail:

1. Requirements

The requirements phase is critical to the Threat Intelligence lifecycle as it sets the roadmap for a particular Threat Intelligence operation.

In this requirements phase, the team agrees on the objectives and methodology of its intelligence program based on the stakeholders’ requirements. The team can then set out to find out.

who the attackers are and what motivates them
how extensive the attack surface is
what specific measures should be required to strengthen the defense against a future attack

2. Collection

Once the requirements are defined, the team gathers the information needed to meet those objectives. Depending on the objectives, the team will consult traffic logs, publicly available data resources, relevant online forums, SOCial media, and industry or subject matter experts.

3. Processing

Once the raw information has been collected, it needs to be put into a format suitable for analysis. In most cases, this means organizing data points into spreadsheets, decoding files, translating information from outside sources, and checking the data for relevance and reliability.

4. Analysis

Once the data set has been processed, the team must conduct a thorough analysis to answer the questions posed in the requirements phase. During the analysis phase, the team also decodes the data set into recommendations for action for stakeholders.

5. Dissemination

In the dissemination phase, the Threat Intelligence team must translate its analysis into an understandable format and present the results to stakeholders. How the analysis is presented depends upon the target audience.

Most of the time, the recommendations should be presented concisely and without confusing jargon, either in a one-page report or in a short set of slides.

6. Feedback

The last stage of the Threat Intelligence lifecycle is to seek feedback on the submitted report to determine if changes require to be made for future Threat Intelligence operations.

Stakeholders may change their priorities, the frequency with which they wish to receive intelligence reports, or how the data is disseminated or presented.

Threat Intelligence Use Cases

Below is a list of use cases by function:

Sec/IT Analyst:

Integrate TI feeds with other security products
Block bad IPS, URLs, domains, files, etc

SOC:

Use TI to enrich alerts
Link alerts together into incidents
Tune newly deployed security controls

CSIRT:

Search for information on the who/what/why/when/how of an incident
Analyze root cause to determine the scope of the incident

Intel Analyst:

Look broader and more profound for intrusion evidence
Review reports on threat actors to better detect them

Executive Management:

Assess overall threat level for the organization
Develop security roadmap

3 Types of Threat Intelligence

The last section discussed how Threat Intelligence could provide us with data about existing or potential threats. This can be simple information, such as a malicious domain name, or complex information, such as a detailed profile of a known threat actor.

Remember that there is a maturity curve for information, represented by the three stages listed below. With each level, the context and analysis of CTI come to be more profound and more sophisticated, targeted at different audiences, and can become more expensive.

Tactical intelligence
Operational intelligence
Strategic intelligence

1. Tactical Threat Intelligence

Tactical Intelligence is focused on the immediate future, is technical, and identifies simple Indicators Of Compromises (IOCs). IOCs are things like malicious IP addresses, URLs, file hashes, and known malicious domain names. They can be machine-readable, which means security products can ingest them via feeds or API integration.

Tactical Intelligence is the easiest to generate and is almost always automated. Therefore, they can be found via open-source and free data feeds but usually have a very short lifespan. IOCs such as malicious IPSs or domain names can become obsolete within days or even hours.

It is essential to note that while simply subscribing to information feeds can result in a wealth of data, it offers little opportunity to analyze the relevant threats. In addition, false positives can occur if the source is not timely or reliable.

2. Operational Threat Intelligence

Just as poker players study the peculiarities of other players to predict their opponent’s next move, Cybersecurity experts study their opponents.

Behind every attack is a “who,” a “why,” and a “how.” The “who” is called attribution, and the “why” is called inspiration or intent. The “how” is composed of the TTPs that the threat actor uses.

Together, these factors make up the context, providing insight into how the adversary plans, executes and sustains campaigns and significant operations. This insight is Operational Intelligence.

Machines alone cannot create operational Threat Intelligence, and it takes human analysis to transform the data into a format that customers can easily use.

Operational intelligence needs more resources than Tactical Intelligence. Still, it has a longer lifespan because adversaries cannot change their TTPs as quickly as they can change their tools, such as a particular type of malware.

Operational intelligence is most helpful for those Cybersecurity professionals who work in a SOC (Security Operations Centre) and are responsible for running day-to-day operations.

Cybersecurity disciplines such as vulnerability management, incident response, and threat monitoring are the biggest consumers of Operational Intelligence, as it helps them perform their assigned tasks more competently and effectively.

3. Strategic Threat Intelligence

Attackers do not operate in a vacuum, and there are almost always overriding factors surrounding the conduct of cyberattacks. For example, attacks by nation-states are usually linked to geopolitical conditions, and geopolitical conditions are associated with risk.

Furthermore, with the advent of financially motivated big game hunting, cybercriminals constantly evolve their Techniques and should not be ignored.

Strategic intelligence shows how global events, foreign policies, and other long-term local and international movements can potentially impact an organization’s cyber security.

Strategic intelligence helps decision-makers understand the risks that cyber threats pose to their organizations. They can make Cybersecurity investments that effectively protect their organizations and align with their strategic priorities with this knowledge.

Strategic intelligence tends to be the most difficult to generate. Strategic Intelligence requires people to collect and analyze data, which requires a deep understanding of Cybersecurity and the nuances of the geopolitical situation in the world. Strategic Intelligence usually comes in the form of reports.

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Shared vs Managed WordPress Hosting: The Key Differences

Hosting / By my web / September 9, 2021 / Managed Hosting, Shared Hosting, Shared vs. Managed WordPress Hosting, WordPress, WordPress-Managed Hosts

Are you trying to decide between Shared vs. Managed WordPress Hosting? In this post, we will cover the differences between the two.

Shared vs Managed WordPress Hosting

Shared vs. Managed WordPress Hosting has been a warm topic in the WordPress community for a long time. And we’re no strangers to the topic either – in our numerous hosting tests, comparisons, and surveys, we’ve come across many exciting viewpoints and opinions from both sides of the barricade time and time again.

However, pitting Shared and Managed Hosting against each other is not as easy as it seems at first glance.

This article will explore what developers and everyday users mean when talking about Shared and Managed WordPress hosting.

Then I’ll go over the specific differences between the two and recommend which option is better in a given scenario.

Shared vs Managed WordPress Hosting in a nutshell

The argument between Shared and Managed WordPress hosting revolves around the additional WordPress-specific services and performance improvements you get with Managed WordPress Hosting.

Managed WordPress Hosting resembles an attendant service for your WordPress site, whereas regular Shared Hosting leaves much work to you regarding backups, WordPress optimization, and more.

However, Shared Hosting and Managed WordPress Hosting are not inherently different. When talking about Shared Hosting, the term is usually equated with “general low-cost hosting.”

But here’s the thing:

Many shared hosts offer a “managed platform” or “managed services”. These hosts are often counted among the list of WordPress-Managed Hosts.

Shared Hosting is just a hosting plan where your website “shares” resources with other websites on the same server.
Managed WordPress Hosting is a collection of additional services and performance enhancements offered in addition to regular hosting.

Despite this caveat, we will stick to common usage in this article and treat Shared and Managed WordPress hosting as distinct entities. Even though this is not technically correct, it is correct considering how most people use the two terms.

The main differences between shared vs Managed WordPress Hosting

Shared Hosting in a nutshell

Shared Hosting is about hosters trying to keep their costs down by putting many different websites on a single server. That sounds negative – but it’s not. Shared Hosting serves a purpose.

If shared hosts didn’t do that, none of us would certainly have the ability to host unlimited websites for the same amount we spend at Starbucks every month.

Shared Hosting is an excellent solution for a proof-of-concept site, for example, or a hobby site. And perhaps even for a small business site, as long as it’s a simple “online business card.”

If you were to opt for a professionally Managed WordPress Hosting setup for each of these projects, you wouldn’t be able to test more than 1-2 websites at a time. With Shared Hosting, you can run ten such sites on one server.

Also, you’ll be sharing your server’s resources with dozens or hundreds of other websites, which might slow your website down because something is happening on another website.

Quality shared hosts avoid overloading their servers to prevent this – ultra-budget shared hosts usually offer too much space.

In addition, you usually use a generic cPanel dashboard to manage your website(s).

While cPanel has some WordPress-specific features – such as an installation tool – it’s not explicitly designed to make your life with WordPress easier, as Managed WordPress Hosts dashboards are.

Managed WordPress Hosting in a nutshell

Managed WordPress Hosting consists of several services, performance optimizations, and other add-ons. These additional features:

Make sure that your website loads faster, as each configuration is optimized specifically for WordPress.
You’ll get tools that simplify WordPress installation and management, as well as tools like staging sites that help you make changes to your WordPress site safely. You’ll get assistance with maintaining your site.
Better secure your WordPress site with security rules and features specific to WordPress

In addition to these features, you can usually manage your site through a customized dashboard (although this is not always the case with low-cost WordPress hosts).

Pros and cons of Shared Hosting

Pros of Shared Hosting

You often pay a significantly reduced monthly fee.
With many shared hosts, you can host unlimited websites for a flat fee.
While there is no such point as an “unlimited number of visitors,” most shared hosts advertise an unlimited number and have no set cap on the number of visits to your site.

Cons of Shared Hosting

Your website will usually load a little slower because the focus is often on cost reductions rather than performance improvements.
Because you share resources, your website load times can also be affected by the activity of other websites on the shared server.
You lack value-added features such as automatic updates and automatic backups.
They do not always have WordPress-specific performance and security enhancements.

Pros and cons of Managed WordPress Hosting

The pros and cons of Managed WordPress Hosting are a bit more varied…

Pros of Managed WordPress Hosting

A server architecture designed specifically for WordPress, which usually means better performance.
Built-in caching at the server level, which also means better performance
Automatic WordPress updates to maintain your website secure and functional
Automatic backups to ensure the security of your WordPress website data
WordPress-specific security measures such as firewalls, login hardening, and malware scans
A convenient dashboard for website management (though not with all Managed WordPress Hosts).
All customer support staff are WordPress experts

Cons of Managed WordPress Hosting

Managed WordPress Hosts are frequently more expensive than shared hosts, although you can find a middle ground.
They can usually only host WordPress websites (of course).
To ensure performance, some Managed WordPress Hosts restrict the plugins you can use. Managed WordPress also hosts usually impose stricter website limits and visitor caps.

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How to maintain website traffic

SEO, Webite Traffice / By my web / August 12, 2021 / how to get traffic, how to increase website traffic, increase website traffic, search engine, seo, website traffic

Today we’re going to talk about How to maintain website traffic.

Here are 6 easy steps to maintaining your website and increasing traffic:

1) Make Sure That Your Site Is Up-To-Date

You need a good site design that is up-to-date with the latest trends in web development. This will help keep visitors on your page longer as they can see what has changed since their last visit. You should also make sure that all of your pages have been updated within the past year or so. If not, then it may be time for an update!

2) Create A Blog On Your Website

Blogging helps you build authority online by creating content that people want to read. It allows you to share information that other websites don’t cover well enough. When someone visits your blog, they’ll often stay there long after visiting your main website because blogs tend to be more engaging than static sites.

3) Add Social Media Links To Your Page

Adding social media links will allow people who visit your site to connect with other users through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. This is an effective way to increase the number of visits to your site as it helps build relationships between your company and its customers.

4) Use Keywords And Tags Properly

Keywords are words that describe your products or services. They’re used when searching Google or Bing. Using them correctly increases your chances of being found by potential clients. For example, if you sell dog food, use “dog” and “food” as tags instead of just using one word like “dogs”. The same goes for any product or service you offer.

5) Optimize Images & Videos For Search Engines

Images and videos are great ways to attract new visitors to your site but search engines won’t rank these items very highly unless they contain certain keywords. So, before uploading pictures or video files to your site, add relevant text descriptions to each image/video file. Also, include those keywords throughout the body copy of your webpage.

6) Include Calls-To-Action

A call-to-action is something that encourages action from readers. CTA’s usually appear at the end of paragraphs or sentences. Examples include “Click Here Now” or “Buy Now”. These types of CTAs work best when paired with images or videos.

I hope this article helped you understand how to maintain website traffic.

How to Increase Organic Traffic in 2021

SEO / By my web / March 27, 2021 / get traffic to your website, get website traffic, how to drive traffic to your website, how to get free traffic, how to get more traffic, how to get more traffic to your website, how to get more website traffic, how to get traffic, how to get traffic to your blog, how to get traffic to your website, how to increase website traffic, increase website traffic, increase website traffic free, seo, traffic, web traffic, website traffic

Organic traffic refers to the number of people that visit your website without the help of paid advertisements. They use the search engine to search for keywords and access your site from the result.

Paid ads are always on top of the results, but you need to keep paying per click to maintain their standing. Organic traffic on the other hand, is free, and as long as you keep your site optimized, its ranking will stay or even go up. This type of traffic is the most important because users searched for it, so the conversion rate is higher.

With that, we cannot deny how vital it is to increase the organic traffic on your website. Search engines have an ever-changing algorithm, so you need to keep up with it to achieve better results. The best SEO companies in Fort Worth make sure that they are always updated with the new strategies to ensure organic traffic goes up.

There are various ways on how to improve the organic traffic of your site this 2021. Check out some of the proven effective methods below.

Provide high-quality content

You will get organic traffic if users find something that they see interesting on your website. However, what would keep them reading and staying longer on your page is if they view your content as helpful, informative, and engaging. Moreover, they would keep coming back to your site if you successfully establish it as an authority because of your high-quality content.

Search engines do not just consider the number of visits on the page when determining the rankings, but how long users stay. Bounces on the site or visitors leaving quickly could mean that they didn’t find what they are looking for, and it could affect your spot on the search result. Having a low ranking could affect your organic traffic because users are more likely to check out sites that are on top of the result.

Optimize the speed of your website

The statistics will tell you why your site speed is important in gaining more organic traffic. Did you know that 40% of visitors leave sites that take 3 seconds or more to load? Moreover, 80% of them will no longer go back to the site. Also, retailers lose an average of $2.6 billion on their annual sales because their sites take time to load.

Do not be one of the statistics and start optimizing your site’s speed. One way to do this is by resizing the images on your site. Keep them under 100kb to ensure that they will load faster. Enabling browser cache will also help as it will make the pages open quicker when users revisit them.

Make your site mobile friendly

In 2020, the number of mobile users around the world reached 2.87 billion. Around 52% of these people use their mobile device for accessing the web and 57% will not recommend a company if its mobile site is designed poorly.

Do not miss the organic traffic that you could get from mobile users. Make sure that your mobile site is responsive to give your visitors the best experience. Sites that are not optimized for mobile use may not load properly or they may not fit on the device’s screen, thus making it difficult for users to navigate.

Ensure similar pages on your site do not compete with the keywords

Use target keywords appropriately to make the most out of them. Improper use can lead to your pages competing with the ranking, which can hurt you.

It’s called keyword cannibalization. For instance, two blog posts with similar content and keywords may compete on the search result ranking. Removing the other post or merging them into one will lead the traffic only on that page, thus further improving your spot.

De-indexing is also another option, especially if you wish to keep the other content on your site. It will still be available for users to read, but it will not be included when search engines run their algorithm.

However, using the same keywords on different areas of the site that does not offer the same content is fine. For example, the about us page and purchase page on your website may have the same keywords, but they offer different information. One will let the users know about your business, while the other is where they can place their orders.

Add visuals to your site

Visuals can make your site more appealing, thus help get the attention of more visitors. Reading content that is all text can be boring. Only a few people will keep reading a long post that entirely texts without any images or videos on it.

Encourage your visitors to keep reading and staying more time on your site by making your posts eye-catching with the use of visuals. Add relevant pictures, infographics, and videos, which will also help them better retain the information that you wish to impart. The best SEO companies in Fort Worth can help create such content.

Use Google My Business

The free Google My Business is an online business listing that can help drive organic traffic to your site. When people search for local businesses in your area, they are more likely to find your name if you have an account there. There is no cost in getting one, so better take advantage of it. Ensure that your details are updated so customers can check out your site, contact you, or visit your store if you have one.

Consider voice search optimization

Over 50% of searches are now made using voice search, and this number is expected to keep growing. Aside from optimizing your site for the usual text search, start optimizing it for voice search too, so you will not miss the opportunity of gaining more traffic through that.

Text search has some differences with voice search. For instance, people type short keywords when using a search engine, while they often use longer words when using voice search. Increasing the organic traffic on your website should be one of your goals this 2021. It will help your site get on top of both text and voice search, as well as increase your sales.

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Managing websites with WordPress

Manage Website / By my web / March 20, 2021 / CMS, Content Management System (Software Genre), share, WordPress (Software)

We’re going to set up WordPress to be more suitable for use as a Content Management System. Just before our experts get going, our experts should perhaps inquire what we mean by this WordPress. As many people know, it started life as a piece of software built for blogging, indicating that it was made to do what blogs do – writing and editing posts, commenting, etc.

Over time, however, WordPress has grown and changed a lot, including the fact that it now supports various features. It currently supports numerous features, making it less of a pure blogging platform and more of a tool to create websites with rich content and complex content.

Types WordPress can also be used to publish content multiple times. This means that you can write a piece of content once and then display it in different places without duplicating it, saving time and energy for website editors and making WordPress more CMS-like.

Some Approaches And Methods

There are some approaches and methods that may be put to use – and those are what we’ll concentrate on in this blog post – we’ll start with a brand new WordPress installation. We’re not going to go through the steps leading up to this point. There are many blogs that we’ll discuss how to do that, but we’re at the stage where we’ve run a new installation, and we’re just going to log in now that we’re looking at the dashboard.

Well, first of all, make a few simple adjustments before we get into the details, a little bit more standard, WordPress is installed with a sample post and a sample page, the first thing we’re going likely to do is to get rid of those, while we’re in the pages section, we’ll create two new pages later.

You may need to change or remove them depending on your particular site, but you will need them 99% of the time. So it’s worth doing this now, so first we’ll create a home page by clicking “Add New Page” and calling it “Home” to publish it immediately, and then we’ll add a page called “News,” which we’ll also post in the “Edit Page” screen.

You may have noticed that WordPress displays this box, suggesting that we change the permalinks. This is a good idea because the default setting, which consists of a question mark and a number, is not very user-friendly for either users or Google, which we’re going to change now.

You can either click on this “Change, Permalinks” box here, or you can go to “Settings, Permalinks” and do it there. We’ll choose the month and the name “Save Changes,” and that’s done, now we’re going to point WordPress to the two pages that we created.

We’re going to do that in Settings and Reading, so we’re going to select a static page. It’s going to be the one we created called Home, and our posts page, the one called News, and we’re going to click Save.

So what have we done here? For a blog, you would typically have the list of posts as the home page here. Since we’re thinking of a website with a separate home page on the News page, we’ll tell WordPress to show a static page for the home page and have a separate page that lists the blog or news articles again change that later.

If needed, we take a quick look at the front end to check. Here is our website and you will see. We have a home page and a news page, although obviously, we don’t have any posts yet. You may have noticed about the home page because we have a comment box displayed here at the bottom of the pages for some pages.

That may be what you want, but for the vast majority, it’s likely that you’ll only want comments on posts or news articles and not on the pages themselves, and it’s worth it because now we’re going to populate our site with pages. It makes sense to turn off the comments feature by default, build it outside, and then turn it back on later for new posts.

So let’s go back to our dashboard. We’ll do this in the settings discussion, and then there’s a box here that says: permit individuals to submit comments on brand new posts.

Therefore we’ll disable that scroll down click save changes now that we’ve disabled, that any new pages that we create won’t have the comments box on them. Still, the two pages that we’ve already created also, so we’ll just quickly change that to go into pages all pages, and we’ll use the quick edit option here, and we’ll disable that.

Allow comments on each of the pages that we created. We’re going to go back to the front end and refresh it, and you’ll see that the comments box is gone.

WordPress Themes

Now we’re ready to go into a little bit of detail. Before we do that, we need to familiarize ourselves with two essential concepts in WordPress. The first of these is a WordPress theme. This is the web. The description of a theme is the analogy of a car. If the core WordPress software is the engine and transmission, then the theme is the body and exterior. WordPress themes are widely available.

If you do a Google, you will certainly find hunt thousand. Some are free, some are paid, or you can create your theme from scratch. A quick word of caution here, it’s generally best to stick to trusted sources for WordPress themes, as some infamous sites offer free themes with a Nasty Virus.

An excellent place to look is the official WordPress theme directory. All of these themes have been checked and vetted, so let’s go here to Appear Themes and go to Install Themes at the top.

This search here will go away and use the official directory. So if we try, this will return all the themes in the WordPress directory that match the keywords, and you can see the variety of themes displayed here. We’ll select one of them: Randomly click install, it will take a minute to download, and then we will activate it.

This theme immediately goes to the front-end of our website, and when we refresh, you’ll immediately see that this rather flashy but very different theme is active. If we go back to our 2020 theme, which is our original one, and activate it, a refresh will come back to the live site, and you’ll see that we’re back to where we were. Themes can also make WordPress work differently.

The WordPress core software is not changed and should not be changed. Themes can change the front-end functionality or the way the dashboard looks and works. The beauty of WordPress themes is that they are, or should be, self-contained in terms of all the CSS.

All of the individual files that make up part of the website are in the themes folder – let’s take a quick look at that now, so let’s go over and look at our WordPress Directory.

Here, inside of WP Content, you’ll see a themes folder, and inside of that are the themes that are available to us, the one that we just downloaded child’s play is all in this directory. This is where we covered the basics of themes.

Templates

Let’s talk about templates, so what is a template? Well, think of it as another layout. For example, a simple site might have a homepage template where the content takes up the entire width of the page or a subpage template that has a navigation bar on one page, or a gallery template to showcase projects or products, and so on.

We’re not going to worry about what our templates look like today, but we will look at a powerful way to use WordPress to populate different templates with different content in WordPress.

Templates are primarily individual files within our theme, folder and once you’ve added a template and given it, some code tells WordPress that this is a template. This blog post will create templates using the default 2020 WordPress theme, but I will follow best practices by doing what I call a child theme.

To avoid any 2020 updates overwriting the changes I make, the child theme is not covered in this blog, but again, you can find lots of information on the web on how to do this. So first, I’m going to select my child theme under Appearance Themes.

So that’s this one that I created earlier, and I click activate. If we go back to the front-end, you’ll notice that absolutely nothing has changed. All I’ve done is tell WordPress to use the same theme as before.

Only now can I safely make some changes to it without overwriting it with your text or code editor, opens your theme folder, and creates a new file there. It can have any name as long as it doesn’t conflict with any of the WordPress files.

Now we will tell WordPress that this is a template file. To do this, we’ll paste the following code above and also paste the default, header, and footer sidebar code. Our next step is to use the custom fields built into WordPress.

These have been part of WordPress for some time and allow developers to add additional content to any page or post. The problem has been that these are not as user-friendly as they could be. Until today, it was not configurable on a per-template basis, which meant that if you created a custom field on one page, it was visible on all of your pages.

We will install a powerful plugin called advanced custom fields that will allow us to display fields on a per-template basis to help us with that. It still uses WordPress‘s native custom fields but overlays a user-friendly interface on top of them. It’s a free plugin, but there are options to expand the field types by paying for premium fields.

After installing and activate the plugin, you will undoubtedly see the Custom Fields option here in the left menu, so let’s go to Custom Fields. We’re going to add a new field group and call it Personal Details.

Now we’re going to add three fields: a biofield, which we’re going to make into a WYSIWYG field, a job title field, which we’re going to leave as plain text, and a mugshot as well, this one we’re going to make into an image, and now here’s the perfect thing about the advanced custom fields, which is that you can display these fields depending on a variety of conditions in this field.

Here you may decide to show or even conceal these fields depending on whether it’s a page or a post, whether it’s part of a specific post category or post type, and so on. We’re interested in now showing these fields only when users are editing a page that uses the Staff Details template. To do that, we’ll select “Page Template is the same” and then our Staff Detail Template.

Before we leave this screen, we’ll also scroll down and check the box next to “Hide on screen” to get rid of our default WordPress “What you see is what you get” field later. You’ll find that you’ll want to do this depending on your particular scenario. Still, we’re going to hide it, for now, so we’re going to click “Publish” and create a new staff member, so we’re going to go to “Pages,” “Add New.” This time we’re going to select “Staff Details” from our template dropdown on the right side here.

You’ll notice that the edit page is dynamically refreshed when we do this and now shows the three fields we just created, so the biofield up here, a rich text field, a single line of text, and the job title, and our image field. So we’ll add “Jane Smith,” we’ll enter a bio, we’ll enter a job title, and we’ll select an image, and then we’ll click publish, and the staff page on the front end of the website doesn’t show anything yet, but we’ll change that now.

First, we’re going to click back into our custom field, a space that we created, and we’re going to make a note of those field names. So we have Bio Job Underline Title, and Mugshot Advanced Custom Fields created as you go, but you can edit them if you need to. We’ll jump into the personals template and now go put in some code with those in mind.

Advanced custom fields provide some functions, but the ones you’ll use most often are the Get Underscore field and the Underscore field. The former gets the data from your specific field, and the latter displays it. The way you do this is entirely up to you and your programming preferences, but I’m going to fetch the data here at the top of the page and then display it a bit further down.

Now that I’ve got my code in, I’ll click save, go back to our staff page and update it, and it’ll display our three content items precisely as we expect. I have now added another Staff. Member page John Jones with various details filled in published it and you will see.

As expected, we have the same template but different content populating that template. We’ve only looked at the basics here, but hopefully, you can see how we can now start to create blocks of content that can be assigned to specific templates.

This basic functionality can be extended in all sorts of ways. Finally, before we wrap up well, let’s take a look at the main navigation menu. WordPress supports two types of menus. The first automatically add items to the menu as pages are added, and that’s the type we’ve seen so far on our primary site. The second is more manual but allows editors much more control over what these menus display.

We will now use this second option to switch to these appearance menus, assuming our theme supporter can add and activate a custom menu. Choose a menu name, such as top navigation, create the men, select it for our primary menu, and click Save Now. If we go back to our site’s front-end and refresh again, you’ll see that nothing at all is displayed in our primary navigation. To change that, select the items you want, click Add to Menu, and drag and drop them into the order you want.

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10 Customer Service Rules for Web Professionals

Customer Service / By my web / March 17, 2021 / business training, communication, customer management, customer satisfaction, customer service, customer service advice, customer service tips, customer service training, customer skill training, how to be better at customer service, how to give good customer service, how to improve my customer service skills, improve customer service, improving customer service, online communication skills training, rules of good customer service

Today we’re going to talk about ten customer service rules for web professionals.

10 customer service Rules

But why rules, nobody likes rules right? Our rules are here to really help you with your business and help you grow because not every web professional follow these rules and if you do you really set yourself apart.

Rule 1: Respond To Your Customers Emails

This is to respond to your customers emails within 24 hours, now why do you think that is just so important for these web professionals? Because it is an indication of your customer service. The longer you make that customer wait the longer their problem is not resolved and the longer that they’re thinking about leaving you and going to someone else.

You know what you can do too because I know when you hear that 24 hours I need to respond I’m doing a million things right. A great remedy is to have a reply email that automatically sends out to your customers when they email you, just letting them know like “hey we’re in the process of helping you out”.

And I used to have freelance and do all these things and my clients expected something almost immediately and some of those tasks took a lot longer than the 24 hours to resolve, so giving them that little bit of follow-up of “hey I’ve heard you, I’ve got your request it’s on my mind I haven’t forgotten about you“. So this is like a perfect segue into customer service.

Rule 2: Update Customer

Update that customer on where you’re at with the product where the status is, so they just know and can expect how long until they get that resolved, or their questions answered.

It’s super important I know a lot of Graphic Designers or Web Designers or just a lot of Project Management People use tools like Trello or Asana to kind of keep track of where they’re at with that project. I know a lot of them actually have that visible to the client and their customers so that way they can see where they’re at on the journey, and they can add their comments and questions or just post as those general updates.

Because they want to know that you’re actually working on it and you’re top of mind that actually reminds me I recently we ordered a few bathing suits from new company California-based brand and I was really nervous about when they would arrive because I needed it just in time for pool-party. I was going to and what made me feel at ease was the update at any time, I could see where my order was even down to where the truck was going to drop it off at which FedEx that I could pick them up.

So it would put me at ease that hey I’m gonna get this bathing suit in time for beach goth party which hence the nails and you can reverse engineer that with your own business have your own shipping tracker, but for your projects or your updates or whatever that looks like for you.

Rule 3: Email Again To Your Customers

It’s all about email again, so specify the next steps that your customer or client has to take, don’t put it in the middle of your giant paragraph break these up what I like to do when communicating with clients is. I’ll have just the general info and everything we’re talking about and then kinda at the very end so they actually look at it right things I need from you.

And it’s very bolded bold, we don’t want that to be missed so just have those next steps, those actions that they have to take so they’re not forgotten so you don’t want to be a week or two later like hey I sent you that email where you at like I need that stuff to move forward and they go what are you talking about.

Rule 4: Shorter The Email Is Better

It’s more likely that the customer or the client is actually gonna read it in its entirety and also keep in mind subject lines what’s gonna get that customer to open your email in the first place right, and go ahead and look at your inbox right now, and see kind of look at some of the emails that you’ve received which ones that you would actually look at like clear, or which one would you just skim and pass over we are the ones that are those good examples in your inbox.

They have headlines their email paragraphs are short and sweet they maybe have some images or links that have to click on keep it that short and sweet and make it easy for your client to take those.

Rule 5: customer service

It’s one that I’m guilty of literally every day it’s not to answer emails or calls when you’re just not in a good place to take them, you can be with your family or at a baseball game or skateboarding and you get a call from a client or from someone you work with and your first instinct is to answer that phone call.

It’s sometimes just not a good idea, I don’t have the most intelligent responses when I’m not in work mode. I have to be in work mode to actually get good stuff done right, but also goes back to what we spend a lot of time talking about work-life balance.

When you’re at that your kids baseball game being your kids baseball game and when you’re deciding “hey I’m done with work for the day be done with work for the day”, it’ll actually help you to have a longer career and also a business without getting burnt out so definitely keep it separated.

Rule 6: Don’t Respond To angry emails

When you think about responding don’t be mealy, honestly what helps me a lot and even in your personal life if you’re feeling a little disgruntled about something write it out make a draft, and then walk away go do something else for a little more press send, give it some time to air outlet it breathes to keep.

But don’t respond in a way to an angry email and I know you’re thinking back like you have that one client that one customer that just sent you that email pretty recently how did you respond did you give it that second, or did you just fire off that quick email and that what you probably shouldn’t have.

Rule 7: Offer Some Type Of Support Or Maintenance For Your Clients Or Customers

If you build websites you can offer like website maintenance plans we update plugins, do random service requests.

If you’re a Graphic Designer maybe adjust logos, create a brand, content social media, whatever that looks like because most of the time if we don’t do that’s just one client, and do we offer that ongoing maintenance that’s a client forever you’re getting that recurring revenue helping grow your business and we all like a business right, we all like making money.

Rule 8: Ability For Your Customers

To have the ability for your customers to schedule a call with you don’t rely solely on email, and I know I get emails sometimes and it’s hard to know the tone and how is that person yelling at me. And my friends are not friends just unfriend me.

I can’t tell so avoid that confusion and have that ability there are some online scheduling opportunities out there as well. So it makes it really easy for the customer to schedule in your calendar, give you a little 15-minute call, here ten minutes whatever you need I like a good thirty-minute call to really hash things out but again you don’t want to just rely on email for this.

To boost that customer service and give your customers the ability to schedule a call with you in a protip. I know your time is so valuable if you want to make that scheduled call a premium service you have every right to do, so is a 15 or 30-minute conversation cost money or is it free it’s up to you to decide, but it’s a potential way to increase your dollar bills.

Rule 9: To Take The Blow From The Blame

I know you’ll end up getting that angry email they’ll say you were wrong, you did this, you did that and what we don’t want to do is when going back to that fire off the angry email. And we don’t want to place the blame on them or just fire back and escalate this.

You want to try to defuse a situation you don’t have to say I’m sorry. You can say “I’m sorry for the situation to let me do my best to figure this out for you” and try to figure out that way forward because I know they’re venting, they’re angry but they want a solution and they also want to be heard.

Rule 10:Educate Your Customer

Customer loves you for you’re gonna bring value to the table. I know I love it when I follow a lot of my favorite local businesses on social media and think about what time you’re an expert in your field what do you know that you think your customers would want to know or maybe they need a friendly reminder absolutely.

And it can be quick calls, it can be emailed, but you want to make sure you edit them early on and sets the expectation that you’re here for them not only to provide your service but that ongoing adjudication.

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